Trump’s Appeal to Millennials

Aug 12, 2015

RUSH: Here is Shane in Miami. Shane, great to have you on the program. Hello.

CALLER: Hey, Rush. I want to respond to about what you were saying about Hillary and the Democrat Party, and I think it speaks to why Trump is resonating with a lot of Millennials right now. With Millennials like myself, our whole lives we’ve been bombarded with “sharing” and “teamwork” and “you can’t always do everything by yourself; you need to have someone there with you,” “don’t have unrealistic expectations.”

And here comes Trump saying, “I’m really rich.” And when I hear him say that, I’m so glad that someone is able to say, “You know what? I’m proud of how much I’ve achieved, and you can achieve that, too.” That’s inspiring for a lot of Millennials. Our whole lives we’ve been taught, “Not only don’t pursue being wealthy, but why would you want to be? Wealthy people are evil, they’re mean, and you should be ashamed of success, almost.” And that’s really what the Democrat Party represents.

I’m just so glad that we finally have a Republican not running away from their wealth like Romney. You know, like he’s ashamed of it. “Oh, I don’t really have that much money.” Here comes Trump: “I’m really rich!” That is almost the same thing as hip-hop artists, if you look at hip-hop music — and I’m not really a big fan of it, but it’s very popular with Millennials. Essentially what the theme is — the central theme — in hip-hop music is just bragging about success and coming up from nothing.

RUSH: Right. I mean, MTV… I don’t know if they still do, but they used to have a show where hip-hoppers and athletes would welcome you into their crib so they can brag about how big it was and how much stuff they had in it and how cool it was. But you have hit on something that is right on the money. It’s fascinated me, and I’ve even referenced it on this program a couple times in the past couple years. When I first saw it, there was a story out of San Francisco on how Millennials have no interest in automobiles.

They don’t want to buy a car. They don’t want to own anything. And then I started seeing stories about how they don’t want to own anything, and the “sharing economy” is booming because Millennials don’t like to be tied to ownership. They love sharing, even their digs, even their places they live. They like ride sharing, i.e., Uber. It was presented as, “These people are way ahead of the curve. This is the future of America! Nobody’s gonna own anything.

“Nobody’s gonna have the money to own anything. Nobody wants that life of owning it. Nobody wants to have to pay the insurance for owning anything. Everybody’s gonna want to have a share.” I always thought that this was a meme, if you will, put forth by a bunch of socialists who trying to preach the virtue of sameness and equal outcomes and nobody having more than anybody else, and everybody sharing what they had.

But the problem that I saw was that the Millennials, as it was reported, buying into it. And you’re telling me that that’s not the case, that you not crazy about being told to share everything. By the way, one of the reasons that the “sharing economy” has become so prominent — correct me if I’m wrong — is that you’re told the nation’s best economic days are behind us, that there is no great American economic future anymore.

Everybody’s just gonna have to do with less and share and so forth, and I have always gotten the impression that Millennials bought into that, accepted it, and liked it. You’re telling me that when a guy like Trump comes along, brags about his wealth and his achievement, that it is inspiring to other Millennials, that they want a piece of that themselves now? That’s what you’re saying?

CALLER: Yeah. That is true. And I think it’s the same thing as we see with, okay, so people tend to think that America is more liberal than it is because the media is majority liberal. That’s why people think that America is more liberal than it really is. The media doesn’t represent all of America. So I don’t think that young liberal celebrities — and those that are really active on social media that tend to get the most attention — represent the majority of the Millennials.

Trump has tapped into the silent majority not just of people in America in general but specifically Millennials, the silent majority of Millennials who really do pay attention to politics because they’re turned off by the Mitt Romneys, the John McCains. It’s just boring for them. Trump has brought excitement and saying things that they can understand, is their language. That’s what you were talking about earlier. He was talking about how he can’t have any 19-point plan; it needs to be flexible.

Not only that but people don’t want to sit down — especially Millennials, they’re not gonna sit down — and listen to a 19-point economic plan. But if Trump comes out and says, “Jeb Bush is weak on immigration,” we understand that. That’s pretty simplistic. We can understand that. But I think it really just goes back to the fact that we’ve been constantly bombarded with this our whole lives, and we’re stick of it. We’re sick of being told that you have to share everything and —

RUSH: You’re sick of being told to lower your expectations, I’ll bet.

CALLER: Yes. Yes. And that, you know, it’s unrealistic for you to think that you could ever be rich, and why would you want to be anyway? Rich people are snobs! You know, they’re —

RUSH: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it used to be — and, Shane, it wasn’t that long ago. Honestly. I wouldn’t lie to you. It used to be thought that becoming wealth was a sign that somebody was doing something right.

CALLER: Yep. Well, Ben Shapiro… Actually I’m a big fan of his. He has touched on this before, too, and he says the thing about Millennials — ’cause he’s a Millennial also. He says that, you know, it used to be the case that if a father and a son were walking down the street and they saw a guy driving a nice car down the street, the father would turn to his son and he’d say, “You know, there’s a guy who works hard. That guy, he’s driven, and if you work hard enough, son, you can be successful just like him.” Now you see the guy driving a nice car and people think, “Gee, look at that guy driving a nice car! Why does he get to have that? You know what? Let’s follow him home, and then when he goes in his house, we’ll throw a rock at his car! We’ll key the car.”

RUSH: Or, worse than that. “Who did he rip off to get that car?” or something.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: I remember, you’re right, when I was growing up, when I was in my teenage years and approaching the age of 16, which was back then that’s when you get your driver’s license, my dad the actual started asking, “If you could have any car in the world, what would you want?” It wasn’t, “Lower your expectations, Son. You’re never gonna be able to afford a nice car.” It was, “What would you like, Son?” He wasn’t offering to get me a car. He just wanted to find out what I was thinking.

“If you could have whatever you wanted, what would it be?” We talked about it, and with no guilt about it. It was obviously fantasy time. I’m 15 years old. I’m never gonna, back then, be able to get kind of car I want, but it was point. The attitude that accompanied it was one of anticipation. “If you work hard, you might be able to get it.” But it was a possibility is the point. It was a legitimate, genuine possibility.

It wasn’t something to be ashamed of. It wasn’t something to be critical of. It wasn’t something that said something negative about somebody to have such aspirations. And those are all true today. The greater aspirations you have, the more selfish it is assumed you are and the less you care about others. And I think these stigmatizations have been successfully attached to people in your generation. How have you avoided being caught up with it all?

CALLER: You know what? I think it was just that I’ve always been someone who’s embraced individualism. I always hated working in groups, and constantly throughout school teachers would say, “Get in your groups,” and so a group you would get a grade, and so it didn’t matter if you did a lot of work and no one else did any. I always hated that, and I think that a lot of people are like me; they hated that. But they were just pushed into it. And I really myself have just constantly resisted it.

I was naturally a more independent person, but I could see that other people felt the same thing way as me. They just weren’t really saying anything about it. And specifically Millennial men. I think Trump has tapped into something with Millennial men as well, and that is with not being politically correct. We’ve been taught as men, as Millennial men, “You can’t offend women! Don’t say anything offensive,” you know? And, “Don’t hold the door open for them! That’s sexist.”

RUSH: You know, you may be on something here — and if you are, I really hope you’re right.

CALLER: Yep. Yeah, I mean, we’re just tired of this. I mean, you go to college campuses now you almost have to be afraid of women if you’re a guy because, you know, they might accuse you of rape or sexual harassment or you may get sued by somebody just for asking her out.

RUSH: You don’t even have to be there to be accused of rape.

CALLER: Exactly.

RUSH: Lena Dunham accused somebody wasn’t even there. She wrote a book about it.

CALLER: Yeah, and here comes Trump, and he’s just like, “You know what? I’m not gonna take any of this garbage. If you’re gonna accuse me of sexual harassment in front of millions of people in the debate,” as Megyn Kelly pretty much did. She accused him of sexual harassment, completely taken out of context. But he said, “You know what? I’m not gonna put up with this political correctness,” and he pushed back. I think that is inspiring for Millennial men. They want someone who is able to say, “I’m gonna push back and this is what you need to do. You don’t just have to sit there and take it from Mattress Girl at Columbia or whoever it is. You don’t have to take this crap. You can push back,” you know?

RUSH: You know, this might be really, really something. He might really be on to something here, folks, in terms of why. Not just Millennials, but other people. I guarantee you that the establishment of both parties is trying to figure out what it is Trump’s doing that’s working. So that’s why they come up with, “Well, you know, he’s not giving specifics! He’s speaking platitudes. He’s gonna bomb out. He’s a braggadocios rich guy with bad hair.” I think you’ve offered some specifics here.

Trump is a living example that anti-PC is cool, anti-PC is successful, anti-PC is fun. And that you don’t have to be shellacked in it and be put in prison with it and so forth. If you’re right, it will counter. Because I guarantee you, Shane: A lot of people believe that Millennials want to be PC. They want to be the way they are, and that they’re leading the movement to be that way.

What you’re saying is that a lot of ’em don’t and are looking for reasons to break out, and Trump offers an example of how you can break out and prosper and be liked, which is what a lot of people want to be. So I appreciate your call. I really thank you for taking the time here to get through. I really do.